oldmobie's Doings

[oldmobie]

[richardw]

Do you think they will ripen before winter?

[oldmobie]

Oct 5, 2017 2:48:26 GMT -5 richardw said:

Do you think they will ripen before winter?

My average first frost is this month. Between the 11th and 20th. Not really counting on the little bells unless frost holds off past halloween. The jalepeño shaped ones are a maybe. The banana type are close enough to use now, but I'd like them to ripen more for seed saving.

I guess it's a reminder to me to keep 'em watered to speed the growth. And to consider materials to convert that bed to a cold frame.

[oldmobie]

Oct 5, 2017 2:48:26 GMT -5 richardw said:

Do you think they will ripen before winter?

Our first freeze warning is for tonight. Some peppers ripened better than others, but we picked 'em all. I'll chop and freeze (or maybe pickle) the whole batch.



Hey, say what you like, 2017's peppers treated me better than 2017's cucumbers...

[oldmobie]

One of my proto-heat-tolerant peas is still just clinging to life. I know it's the nature of peas to handle some cold, but seems like shelling peas don't usually overwinter. They also don't usually get planted in the summer and produce in the summer. I think I planted in August, but a check of my "records" only confirms they were planted after June 21st, but early enough to have pods by September 22nd. I think it'll go ahead and finish dieing without producing anything, but I'm really liking what I see in it's genetics. Survives and produces during (at least a mild) summer, tries very hard to survive winter, and grows on one of the tallest pea plants I've ever grown. (Only 4' - 4½' tall, but I never had success with peas until I got some diversity. These started out as Joseph Lofthouse 's landrace. The longer they adapt to my garden and preferences, the more I like 'em.) I have a few seeds put back from the proto-heat-tolerant planting, and a very few known to be from this plant. It looks like adaptation to heat may go faster than I thought it would.

[oxbowfarm]

Do you think those tips are actually still alive or were they maybe just protected from being bleached by being folded inside the stipules?

[oldmobie]

Jan 22, 2018 7:50:00 GMT -5 oxbowfarm said:

Do you think those tips are actually still alive or were they maybe just protected from being bleached by being folded inside the stipules?

I really don't know. It's either dead, or so near dead that I probably won't be able to tell unless the warm weather holds out.

[oldmobie]

Got around too late to plant regular peas. Still plan to plant proto heat tolerant. Planted green beans and teparies yesterday. Thirty-two feet of ~ one foot bed, nine hills per square foot (a hill every three inches in every direction). Planted sweet mint in a semi-contained space, plus two cuttings for the aquaponic grow bed. Sweet potatoes are in, regular potatoes, too. Garlic seems happier this year, especially the ones transplanted into mel's mix / potting soil (out of compacted clay). A handful of transplants are ready, including a few tomatoes, several grains, and a couple of what I think are alfalfa. Gonna have to buy tomato plants. Trying to supress weeds in a few beds with a covercrop mix I made from radish, turnip, amaranth, and orach. Look out.

My best growing bamboo is finally ready to divide. I dug and potted three transplants, to see if I can get it to live. Maybe I can sell some.



My original start was a Christmas gift. About five or six years ago, it was in a pot pretty much like the middle one. It may have been the same pot. Here it is today:

[oldmobie]

Green beans starting to fill in:





Trying out bamboo transplanted into pots. If it takes, I may have something to sell.



Another attempt at covercropping for weed control. Working better than it usually does for me. (So far.)



My garlic is scaping. I pulled the scapes out of my bulb production bed.



Of course I left the scapes on the seed production bed.



I sauteed most of the removed scapes with salt and canola oil. Kind of a green bean / asparagus effect. The smell is too aired out now for me to smell it, but I bet I won't see a vampire in my kitchen for like... a month.



Most of my fall planted grains didn't make it, but one is nearly ready to harvest, maybe. I'm not familiar enought to say if it's wheat, rye, or barley. Maybe when I harvest.



Spring planted grains look good, but are far from producing.

[richardw]

That bamboo variety is a real spreader. I found getting a piece of it to grow works better to cut off the all growth, just bury a section of root in a pot keep damp and cool, it soon pops up, its hard to kill stuff really.

[oldmobie]

May 28, 2018 14:45:14 GMT -5 richardw said:

That bamboo variety is a real spreader. I found getting a piece of it to grow works better to cut off the all growth, just bury a section of root in a pot keep damp and cool, it soon pops up, its hard to kill stuff really.

Most of the top growth has broken off anyway. If it takes, that means I can at least prune future transplants low enough to keep them bottom heavy.

So what do you transplant? Just the underground shoot tip and some root?

[richardw]

I just chop off all growth off and cut a square of earth along with the roots

[reed]

Bamboo, a very useful plant but be careful with it. An aggressive variety, which most I'v seen are, can get way out of control before ya know it.

[richardw]

My variety is not overly aggressive, ive got a ditch dug around it that i put there when i planted it 12 years ago, i allowed 2 metres each side and it still hasnt quite make it to it yet.

[oldmobie]

Crap. My carrot for seed rotted off. Probably overwatered.

On the other hand, beans are starting to bloom, radishes were harvested today, tomatoes (store bought) are loading up with green fruit, first patch of sweet corn is around a foot high, cucumbers and squash are up, most of the pepper transplants and all of the homegrown tomato transplants lived, and I've never seen potato plants as tall as this years volunteers. (They volunteered in the tomato bed, so they got sheep and goat manure. Hope they're makin spuds, not just tops.)

Then there's the garlic. One bed left alone to make seeds, another transplanted into mel's mix last year, and de-scaped this year to try for respectably sized bulbs. I pulled one up today to check. Not a record breaker, but not bad.





Knowing that I hadn't dried it down for storage, about four cloves went into tonight's roast, the rest into a jar of store bought kosher dills.